Is Your Smoke Detector Working? 79 Lives Lost In Georgia So Far This Year!

State Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner Ralph Hudgens is urging Georgians to change the batteries in their smoke alarms at the same time they change their clocks back to standard time this Sunday.

Hudgens says “In conjunction with the Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery fire safety program sponsored by the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the American Burn Association, the annual change from daylight saving time to standard time is a good reminder to make sure your smoke alarm is working as it should.”

(Credit: Georgia Office of Insurance)

Last year in Georgia, according to Hudgens, “there were 91 fatal residential fires and forty-three of those fires didn’t have a working smoke alarms. If you have a smoke alarm, make sure it’s in working order. Changing the battery at least once every year and cleaning dust from the device is an easy way to ensure continued protection of your family and your property.” According to Hudgens, having a working smoke alarm doubles the chances you will survive a fire in your home.

So far in 2014, 79 Georgians have died in residential fires. Fire investigators were unable to determine if a working smoke alarm was present in forty-three of those fires.

(Credit: Georgia Office of Insurance)

Daylight saving time ends Sunday, Nov. 2 at 2 a.m., when clocks are set back one hour.

The law was passed in 1987 to require smoke alarms in residential facilities. According to State Fire Marshal Dwayne Garriss, smoke alarms have a life expectancy based on sensitivity. He says, “if your smoke alarm is over ten years old, and you’ve never changed it, we recommend that you change it because the sensitivity has gone bad.” With the new systems and new devices, Garriss says, “they have sealed energy systems in them. Basically they have a ten year life expectancy. You don’t have to worry about that if you change it out.”

According to Garriss, those needing smoke detectors can contact their local fire department. “If they aren’t able to provide them one, we will make sure to get one to them somehow”, says Garriss.

“A smoke alarm is your first line of defense”, says Garriss. And while there are those who, rather than replace the alarm battery, think they’ll be able to wake up if they smell smoke, Garriss says, “that’s not true. You can’t smell smoke when you’re asleep.”